 Les Moonves |
If CBS CEO Les Moonves were to exit the network in the wake of his battles with National Amusements and Shari Redstone, he would likely do so with a major payout. A report on The Wrap places the value of the golden parachute that Moonves would receive at somewhere between $181 million and $315 million, which would include an additional sum for the company’s stock performance. The report says the numbers are based on company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But none of that money is guaranteed. While Moonves would probably get a $184 million parachute if CBS fired him without cause, if the dismissal were for “good reason,” several million dollars would be trimmed from that figure. And if there’s “cause” for Moonves’ firing, he could potentially receive no money at all, not even the stock-based payout.
 Alex Jones |
Conspiracy theorist, talk show host and online disaster-preparedness supply salesman Alex Jones is expanding his InfoWars digital media platform into a 24-hour-a-day news operation. Jones told viewers of his show that InfoWars is planning to bring on about 15 new employees—“our biggest recruitment and hiring operation ever.” InfoWars is looking to fill positions including video editors, live show producers and investigative reporters. Jones’ YouTube channel currently has 2.35 million subscribers. An enthusiastic supporter of President Trump, Jones is perhaps most famous for his claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shootings were a hoax perpetrated by the mainstream media. “This is a very, very exciting chance for InfoWars to up our game in the face of the globalists,” he said.
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Interview, the magazine founded by Andy Warhol in 1969, has shut down. According to multiple sources, the magazine has filed for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy and is currently in the process of liquidating its assets. The publication, which has been owned by billionaire art collector Peter Brant since 1989, has been through a series of financial difficulties over the past few years. Interview employees were locked out of its Soho offices in February for not paying rent, and the company subsequently moved. In April, the magazine’s editorial director Fabien Baron resigned. Earlier this month, Baron filed suit against the company, alleging that he and his wife, stylist Ludivine Poiblanc, are owed over $600,000 in unpaid invoices.
The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI reach an agreement that will make a set of more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars available for use by Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform... CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has moved Tony Dokoupil, a co-host at “CBS Mornings” since 2019, into the anchor’s chair for the “CBS Evening News,” following the departure of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois... USA Today editor-in-chief Caren Bohan has left the paper.
Michael Kaminer, who was responsible for the Observer’s “Power List” for the past 13 years, has cut ties with the publication... The New York Times Company continues the march toward its goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027... The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is providing more than $6 million in funding to eight organizations working to address the challenges local news and information environments face along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Conservative outlets Fox News, Newsmax and the Daily Caller are holding back from signing Pete Hegseth’s edict restricting press access in the Pentagon... CBS News sees the first executive departure of the Bari Weiss era as head of standards and practices Claudia Milne exits... Indiana University shuts down the print version of The Indiana Daily Student.
Rothschild family plans to unload 26.7 percent stake in The Economist... STAT, a digital media company that focuses the life sciences, brings back Damian Garde, who anchored its biotech newsletter and podcast from 2016 to 2024... High Times officially resumes print publication (following its 2024 shutdown) with the release of a limited-edition, collectible 50th anniversary issue. 
CBS News is set to hand over its reins to The Free Press co-founder Bari Weiss as Paramount acquires her site for $155M... C-SPAN comes on board as an official media partner of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, which is charged by Congress to lead the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence... A new Gallup survey says that the level of trust that US audiences have in the media has hit a new low.
